Thursday, August 11, 2011

08/11/2011
Lawmakers yesterday lambasted
the Department of Health (DoH) for allowing the Philippine Children’s
Medical Center (PCMC) to collect personal items from their patients in
exchange for discharge slips.
According to Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy
Casiño, the practice at the PCMC has been going on since 2009 as shown
by a memorandum number 45 issued by PCMC Director Dr. Julius Lecciones.

Casino
said he will file a resolution to investigate the hospital and the DoH
for allowing such practice even as he showed Health Secretary Enrique
Ona copies of the memorandum circulars issued by Lecciones during
yesterday budget hearing on the DoH. Lecciones is an appointee of former
President Arroyo.

“This practice of public hospitals engaging in
pawnshop operations is very deplorable and we expect Secretary Ona to
immediately stop this. He should know what is happening in government
hospitals and the desperate practices they engage in just to shore up
their budgets. One way to stop this is to restore the budgets of our
public hospitals as contained in their original proposals. This means
raising the DoH budget by at least P20 billion,” Casiño said..... MORE